Hunter High School
by The Stin
Summary: It's the classic High School anime version of how Zero met Iris! please review. Rated T to be safe. Zero
1. In the Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman/Rockman X. Capcom wouldn't let me have it.**

**Author's notes: This story is set before Megaman X, but after Zero's flashback fight with Sigma in Megaman X4. Now I know that Iris is first introduced in Megaman Xtreme 2, but they call this stuff fan fiction for a reason, so enjoy!**

**Hunter High School**

Chapter 1:Beggers can't be Choosers

_How did I get myself into something like this?_ Zero stood in front of a large arch shaped building, with a large banner hung above the front door, reading, "Welcome Freshmen!"

The first thing Zero could remember was waking up on a laboratory table, being operated on by a rather old looking man, standing next to a large, and bald reploid, although how Zero could tell human from reploid was a mystery to him.

"Where am I?" he had asked.

"Maverick hunter base." The old man had replied allowing Zero to sit up. "My name is Doctor Cain, and this here next to me is Sigma, the commander of our operation."

"Why am I here?" Zero was confused.

"We found you in an old abandoned laboratory." Doctor Cain began to explain. "You were causing quite a problem for our men. You annihilated an entire elite squad, and even gave Sigma quite a beating."

"But," Zero brought his hand to his head. "I don't remember any of that."

"That can also be explained." Doctor Cain pressed a button on a gauntlet he was carrying and a holographic screen appeared above his wrist. "After examining you, we have concluded that whatever had caused you to go maverick, or violent towards reploids and humans, was a foreign program in your system. Whatever it was though, it's gone now, perhaps deleted due to trauma caused by Sigma's finishing blow towards you. Any how, any experiences you received whilst under the influence of this virus would not have been stored in your memory banks."

Zero was attempting to process this. After waking up with no memories whatsoever, this was a difficult situation to comprehend, even for a reploid.

"We have however gone through your regular data. We have discovered only what you should know right now, that being that your name is Zero, and nothing else."

"So where do I go from here?" Zero was considering what to do now.

"Community service." Cain broke into Zero's thoughts. "You committed crimes, which makes you a criminal, but at the same time, your not a maverick, therefore not giving us the qualifications to harm you, however, you must repay your debt to society, and with your combat capabilities, it's already been decided that you'll be a maverick hunter."

Zero was a little taken aback. "Your just gonna give such an important job to a criminal like me?"

Cain's eyes widened. "Heavens no! Before we can give you the job, we have to put you through the proper moral rehabilitation, just to make sure that you wont go maverick again!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" This had somewhat piqued Zero's curiosity.

Doctor Cain smiled. "Well I'm glad you asked because you see…"

And from there, Zero had found himself going to "Signas' Moral High School for Powerful Prototypes, and Former Mavericks."

_If I had known the rehabilitation would be a cliché high school, I would've just banned myself from society. _Zero was now wearing the school uniform, which consisted of a white button dress shirt and slacks for men, and a blue skirt and white shirt for girls. Zero had tucked his hair into his collar as to keep guys from making funny remarks about him, and what wouldn't fit, he tied into a pony tail similar to the one he styled with his helmet.

Zero knew though that the first day would begin soon, and he would have to get to the assembly where principle Signas would be giving a short speech, and sending them to home room., although before he could move, he was knocked down to the ground by what felt like someone running into his back. Whoever this was, seemed to fall down with him.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry!" a panicked female voice began to babble. "You see I was just in such a hurry, you see I had some trouble getting here and my alarm wouldn't go off, and-"

Zero looked up to see a pretty stereo-typical high school girl with green eyes, brown hair, and average build. The thing that caught Zero's eye though, was the red fluid now trickling down the girls face. All reploids contained an organic fluid that, much like human blood, supplied the necessary energy to the parts that it was circulated to, and just like blood, cutting flesh would make you lose some.

Zero shushed the girl. "You have a leek on your left cheek." He pulled a small strip out of his pocket that he had received from Doctor Cain. A flesh strip. Whenever a reploid received a cut, one of these could be put over the cut, and it would instantly fuse, and balance itself with the actual skin. Zero applied the strip to the girls face, but was somehow not observant enough to notice the enormous patch of red now covering her cheeks. "So what's your name?" he asked.

"Iris." The girl hastily replied.

"Well Iris, I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't move you'll miss the assembly." Zero watched as this suddenly occurred to Iris and her panic resumed.

"That's right!" She shouted as she began to run. "I can't be late!"

Zero only looked in her direction. _She's very energetic_. He thought. At this time though, it occurred to Zero how long these events had taken, and in an effort to not be late to the first event, he made a mad sprint for the gymnasium. He was relieved to find a seat, just as the speech began.

"I'd like to welcome all of you to our excellent facility." The principle began. I am principle Signas, and I am here to ensure that all of you have the capabilities to pass this moral checkpoint. I am aware that you all have hopes and dreams for the future, even the teachers do, and so do I myself." Everyone remained silent; although it was obvious he wanted someone to ask what his dream was. No one though, had the neglect of dignity to do so. Signas was determined however, to state his feelings. "What's my dream you ask?" he said as if picking up from a script. "My dream, is to one day, make a high position for myself in the Maverick Hunters!" Zero didn't have the heart to say that he would be fulfilling that dream for himself if he graduated.

From there, the assembly was all downhill. After the principles fiasco of a speech, the students were dismissed to locate there homeroom classes.

_This is gonna be a boring year._ Zero thought to himself, as he walked into his homeroom. Upon opening the door, he saw a teacher in a dark black suit with purple lines down his face. The plaque on his desk read _Forte_. This was however, not what caught his attention. Rather, it was the brown haired girl, with an empty desk next to her, that she had obviously been saving for somebody. _Then again,_ Zero thought, _maybe it won't be so dull after all._

**To be continued in chapter 2!**


	2. Day One: The Window

**Disclaimer: Megaman/Rockman X is owned by Capcom.**

**Authors notes: the second installment! I may as well get this out of the way now. I'm going to try to update this frequently. I'm posting up chapters the minute I finish them, so if there's ever a long amount of time between the release of two chapters, I'm either suffering from laziness, writers block, or just unable to get to my computer (a situation which I know will occur Monday through Wednesday). When school starts up in a week, I'll have to slow down on my updates for school work, so please bear with me! Also, action may become the next genre in the story. "Cookies" if you read this straight through without skipping about.**

**PS: Didn't get "cookies" for reading the AN? You still have a chance! If you can name the popular comedic skit being referenced in this chapter, you get "cookies"! (Disclaimer: it belongs to The Frantics)**

"Alright students." The teacher of Class Two-A announced. "I am your teacher this year. As you already know my name is Forte. I don't expect anyone to refer to me as mister, and I won't allow anyone to use honorifics. As much as it may look like it, were not mimicking a century old animation concept." He was supplied with blank stares around the class, as well as a couple of mumbles.

"There's no way this is gonna teach us anything." One of the students mumbled.

Forte slammed his hands down on the students desk. "And may I ask what your name is?" the aggravated teacher ground his palm into the wood.

The student stood up. He was tall and lean, with broad shoulders and red hair. "Double." He replied coolly, crossing his arms.

"And what was your question?" Forte sounded and looked calm, but he emanated an angry aura.

"I simply wish to know," Double brought his arms to his side. "How does this program teach us anything, Forte Sensei." At the end of this sentence Double blinked, and opened his eyes outside the now shattered window of the second story classroom, and found himself plummeting to the ground in mere seconds. The rest of the class, only looked at Forte in shock and awe, who had thrown a student out the window.

"I said no honorifics." He shouted down to the discombobulated Double, who had gotten back on his feet and was vainly stumbling for a wall. "Now, to answer his question, your going to be put into the position of a last century high school human, and exposed to the pressure and emotions that such humans were exposed to. This is no simulation" Forte gestured outside the new exit. "This is a real town. You will be given your own apartment, allowed to search for a job, or use whatever other skills you have in life. You will be freely given the right to choose your own actions for the whole school year, at the end of which, we will evaluate your actions, and determine weather you pass or not, and if you should or shouldn't repeat a year at school. Under normal circumstances, you will need to pass four years to get into actual society, but some special cases are allowed to skip years of the program. It's not normal, but it's not uncommon either, so don't be surprised if you lose a classmate over night." By now Double was climbing back in the window. "Understand now Double?"

"But I-" Double lifted his legs through the window.

"Get in your seat now, or it's back through the window." In a split second, the battered reploid had made it back to his seat.

The rest of the day had gone by quickly. Zero had all of his classes (aside from gym which he took with Slash Beast, I mean, lets face it, the guy can run at like two hundred miles per hour) with Forte. There wasn't anything difficult about the school itself. _I guess the hard parts come after class. _Zero concluded. Along with double, there were other members of his class that he found particularly interesting. First was a reploid that wore a purple helmet with his uniform named vile. He seemed intimidating, but a conclusion couldn't be come to after one glance. Along with a, 'ahem', self proclaimed "_womanizer"_ who called himself Dynamo, as well as some purple haired feminine boy who's name Zero kept forgetting. Of course at the front of these was Iris, who seemed to have a certain fondness of Zero.

The bell rang and Forte dismissed the students to go to their homes or to explore town for the rest of the night. As Zero was packing his belongings, a loud crash could be heard outside the room. Like all the other students, Zero was keen to investigate.

In the hallway, two freshmen were being beaten by a five man group of sophomores and juniors. One of the older ones saw this as an opportunity to hammer his ideals into the freshmen. "Listen up now freshmen." The burly reploid began. "Now that you're here, that makes you the bottom of the food chain." He began kicking the downed reploid in the ribs. "If you don't listen to us upper classmen, there will be discipline." He raised his foot again to take another kick when another power intervened.

Behind the burly delinquent, now holding his foot up in the air, was another well built reploid wearing a black and white army hat with two cross swords. The boy was a male student and looked to be just sprouting a beard. "You shouldn't abuse your authority." The boy's eyes were filled with righteous fury.

"Colonel." The delinquent identified the freshman's savior as he cursed under his breath.

"Get off of the kid." Colonel ordered. The other reploid had a different idea though.

"Everyone get him!" He yelled. "He may be strong but he can't take all of us!"

The brawl began. Everyone stepped back, as well as Zero in the front, and Iris who grabbed onto Zero's arm.

Colonel was indeed quite strong, as well as a master of hand to hand combat. The first move by the delinquents was to close in around Colonel. Before they managed to begin their actual attack however, Colonel managed to nail the reploid farthest to the left with a hard right hook, sending the unfortunate receiver of the blow, through the door to class Two-A, past the oblivious Forte, and out the already shattered window.

Although Colonel dealt the first blow however, the fight was still four to one, hardly equal odds. He now struggled to parry between the well placed blows of the remaining four reploids in the narrow space of the hallway. With lack of maneuverability, he began losing ground. He could not let up his guard to attack and risk massive damage and he couldn't avoid any of the spread out attacks.

_Dang it!_ Colonel thought. _If this were just two on one, maybe even three, I could handle myself, but four people is too much._ A final punch now broke Colonel's defense. One of the reploids moved in to deliver the finishing blow, but was at that moment, done in by a blonde reload with a long pony tail.

"Boot to the head!" Zero shouted as he jumped to Colonel's side and kicked his attacker in the face, propelling him to the broken classroom window.

"Stupid freshman!" One of the Younger of the brawlers tried to punch Zero in the face, but missed entirely, as Zero quickly sidestepped to the left, and launched his right arm into the reploids stomach, in turn, launching the sophomore through the severely overused window.

Colonel stood up beside Zero and took a fighting stance. The two reploids left, both juniors, seeing the odds were now equal, therefore, not in their favor, did the only plausible thing to do. They made the pile of reploids outside the classroom two bodies larger.

Zero sighed in relief. "Hey, your pretty stro-" he was cut off by Colonel's massive hand enclosing around his neck.

Colonel's eyes were dark and deadly "What were you doing, with my sister." Although it was a question, it was spoken more like a threat. It also didn't help that Colonel was squeezing the life out of Zero's neck at the moment.

"Brother! Stop!" Iris ran up to the two reploids. "I cut myself this morning and-"

Colonel's grip instantly disappeared from Zero's neck. At the same time, his turned from a deadly stare, to a panicked state of babbling. "What happened? Were you hurt! Did you go to the nurse!" and so on and so forth.

After about five minutes of senseless blabber from Colonel's mouth, Iris finally spoke. "Well I ran into Zero and cut myself when I fell, and when I did, Zero gave me a flesh strip to put on it."

Colonel looked back at Zero, who was still rubbing his sore neck. It was then that Colonel got down on his hands and knees in front of Zero. "I apologize for my rudeness."

Zero looked down. "Please don't do that."

Colonel stood up straight again. and wiped his eyes, which were now dripping tears. _What's this guy's problem?_ Zero thought.

"Sorry" Colonel began again. "It's just… Iris means the world to me and I would be devastated if anything happened to her." Colonel stuck out his hand. "I do however believe we have not been properly introduced. My name is Colonel, a junior. Iris and I are twins, but due to some tests she had to undertake after activation, she was unable to come for two years.

Zero raised his eyebrow. "Tests?" he confirmed. "So your some sort of new generation reploid?"

Colonel chuckled. "Sort of. We were originally meant to be one reploid, with the perfect combat programming, as well as perfect appreciation for life. However," Colonel's face turned grim. "The spirit of a warrior understands that at one point you must end your enemy's life. This understanding conflicted with the "perfect appreciation for life", thus causing our data to split into two pieces." Colonel began to smile again. "I the brother, a warrior through and through, and Iris the sister, who was overall the most considerate of others. I was more like an average reploid, but being a prototype, I was still sent here. Iris was kept back two years to test her own combat capabilities, which although she possesses them, her conscious restricts her from using them." Iris nodded in agreement.

"So why are you here Zero?" Colonel threw Zero's question back. "You're pretty strong. Are you a new prototype yourself?" Zero nodded in agreement. _Probably best not let them know I'm a former maverick._ He thought.

"Wow!" Colonel's face lit up. "That explains quite a bit. Maybe we should spar with each other sometime. We need to go home now, but maybe we'll get to fight sometime!" Zero laughed with Colonel on the way out of the building, and then parted ways with him and Iris.

Zero chuckled to himself. _Maybe this year really could be fun._


	3. Home Coming

**Disclaimer: Megaman/Rockman X is Capcom's product, not mine. I actually make a living off of selling used toilet paper.**

**Authors notes: Alright, so I know that maybe posting this as I write it isn't the best idea, but it's like playing Fable II. You do something you regret, the game saves, and you can't change it unless you start all over. I'll just make do with what I've made and twist the plot to accommodate. As for anyone who's wondering how many chapters this will be, I honestly have no idea. This could be the last chapter for all I know (but I certainly hope not)! I'm hoping that this turns out to be a considerate length though. One more note, as to Japanese and American names. I will use whichever name for each character that I see fit, just as I think that Forte, the Japanese name for Bass, is superior to its American counterpart, and Vile is better than his Japanese name Vava. Now, without further ranting, Chapter 3!**

Chapter 3: Settling Down

"135 Apple St. huh?" Zero looked down to the crinkled up paper in his hand with the address of the house provided to him by Dr. Cain for the year. He had expected to only receive a simple apartment, maybe one or two rooms. Instead, he had looked up from his paper to see a large two story home that could easily fit a family of six people.

Zero was in turn, confused. _Did I come to the wrong street?_ Zero double checked the house number and the street sign. He knew he couldn't be reading the wrong sign, and mistaking the road. There was no intersection for another two blocks, and a sign next a street light clearly read, 'Apple St.". He knew he couldn't be mistaking the house number, and even if he was, the area around was filled with similar houses that didn't look inhabited at all.

Zero finally decided that it couldn't hurt to try, and walked up to the door. When he reached the welcome mat, a panel beside the door bell button flipped to reveal a small port the size of his index finger. An automated voice narrated a small sign which read, "Please confirm data, **Zero**, by inserting finger." Zero shrugged, and put his pointed finger in the slot. A buzz and click sounded from the panel. "Data confirmed." It said. "Welcome home, **Zero**." The door clicked as it unlocked and opened slightly.

Zero pushed the door open as the panel flipped back to its former position. As he flipped the light switch, he saw a set of stairs in front of him, a door leading to a kitchen to his right, and a living space to his left, complete with a couch and coffee table, as well as a comfortable looking chair. On the coffee table was a note. Zero began to read as he sat on the couch.

_Dear Zero,_

_ I apologize for forcing you into this program so suddenly, so as to make up for it a bit, I have provided you with a state-of-the-art home which will house you for the years that you go to the school. As you must have seen after finding this note, your living space has many nice pieces of furniture which you are free to arrange to your liking. You can see the video screen on the wall in front of you. You can use it to watch human programs, or make video calls to your fellow classmates._

Zero looked up from the note to see the large screen, covering nearly half the wall in front of him.

_You will also find the kitchen to the right of the front door, which I have fully equipped for your use, as well as leaving a cooking program to assist you. I realize that reploids do not require food or drink, but you are still capable of enjoying refreshment, and it is good to relax a little bit every night. There is also dinning space that connects the kitchen to the living space behind the stair way. On the second floor, you will find that your bedroom is the last door on the right. All the other rooms are guest bedrooms, except for the first door to the left, being a restroom which you will only need for the fully equipped medicine cabinet. Any other questions you need answered can be asked to the speaker in the kitchen. The housekeeping program is not a reploid program like yourself, but is still capable of assisting you in household chores._

_Yours sincerely, Doctor Cain_

Zero's jaw dropped. "Well he sure pulled out all the stops." He thought aloud.

Zero stood up from the couch which sat against the side of the stairs and looked to the right to see a large open sliding door which led to the dining room. There sat a long table with six chairs around it. A turn to the right brought him through another door against the same wall as the sliding door, which led to the kitchen, containing a stove-top oven, a counter dishwasher, a microwave in the wall, and refrigerator against the wall by itself. He opened the lower of the two refrigerator doors to see two drawers on the bottom, one filled with vegetables, the other filled with fruit. Atop these drawers sat a carton of eggs, some green, solid cube, and a gallon of milk. Atop the next shelf up were various boxes with "Hillshire Farm" written on top, and in the door were several condiments of various sizes and brands. Zero picked up the green cube.

"Is this edible?" He thought aloud.

"No, its just in the fridge for decoration. YES IT'S EDIBLE YOU BLOODY TART!" Zero nearly jumped into the ceiling. To his right in the door of the refrigerator was a speaker projecting a loud and clearly annoyed voice with a British Accent.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Zero had backed into the wall.

"I'm your kitchen Navigator you wanker." The voice was now a lot quieter, but still quite angry for no apparent reason._ Why's he so ticked off?_ Zero thought.

As if reading Zero's mind, the navigator began a monologue. "Bloody Cain, lobbing me into a twenty first century knockoff house, just to baby sit some hob knocker's kitchen. When I get back to base he'll be getting an ear full from me. And you!" the navigator shouted at Zero. "You're the reason I've got to skip out on my navigation duty's at hunter base, so if I-" The navigator now noticed through a camera stationed in the corner, that Zero had made his way over to the circuit breaker, and was holding the switch that read, 'Kitchen Navi' "Oh Bollocks." Zero flipped the switch and closed the fuse box on the kitchen wall.

_Maybe I'll send you back to Doctor Cain for attitude adjustment._ Zero thought to himself as he began to walk up the stairs, in search of more to explore. His first 2nd floor expedition took place in the restroom. He saw a toilet and shower, and decided that it would probably be a good idea to take one a shower every morning, and maybe he'd stop by a department store tomorrow to pick up some soap. Aside from this was the washing machine and a dryer, where he would be able to clean his uniform, and any other clothes that Cain may have left him. He took a look inside of the medicine cabinet and saw two boxes of flesh strips, containing 50 each, as well as a few bottle of conducting fluid, which was the blood like substance that transferred energy throughout the reploid body.

Zero next looked though the five separate guest bedrooms. Each had a Bed in the corner, an empty dresser on the opposite wall, and an small table next to the bed with a lamp on top. The only difference between the rooms was the color scheme of each one. One of them was a pattern of white black and yellow, another was dark blue and pink, one more was based on light and dark blue, and the last two were both unpainted with blue sheets on the beds.

Zero now stood at the last door on the right. His own bedroom. _I wonder what doctor Cain did here._ He opened the door, hoping a British voice wouldn't start cursing at him. Inside his own room, he found that it had been based on the colors red white and black, seeing as those were the colors of his own armor. His own room was identical to that of the guest rooms, except with a couple of extras. For one, his room was slightly larger than the others. He also had a study desk, and his dresser was filled with clothes that he decided he would see as he wore and washed. His room also had a sliding door closet, with several hangers, four of which where holding a uniform identical to his own. His room also had a video screen on the wall, which, although not as large as the downstairs screen, could be used to watch human television programs and movies.

Zero, having contently seen his home, took off his uniform and changed into one of the numerous changes of clothes in his dresser. He now wore a white shirt, with a red lining on the collar and sleeves, and a single red stripe across the chest, all the way around the shirt. He also wore a pair of black cargo pants, and had bothered to tuck his hair into this shirt similar to the way he had done so with his uniform, tying what he couldn't fit, into a long ponytail.

As he walked over to the other end of the room, he saw a skinny box on his bedside table. He sat down on his bed as he picked up the box which read, _In case of Emergency._ He opened it up to see what appeared to be the hilt of a sword. Zero observed it a bit, thinking it may have been a part of his weapons system, seeing as it fit perfectly in his hand. He pressed a button on the side and a three and a half foot long beam shot out of the top of what Zero had now confirmed to be a laser sword. Zero turned off the beam, and thought back to the fight earlier that day. _Yeah this could be useful._

Zero lied down on his bed, one leg crossed over the other. _He sure went for all the extras._ Zero thought, although this wasn't the biggest issue in his mind. _What am I supposed to do with five extra bedrooms!_

**Sorry it took so long. Just got back from camping today, so I'm finishing this up right after starting three days ago. I really need to get a laptop. :( ah well. Maybe next summer I'll get one for my birthday, anyhow, I'll try to update faster than that until next week, since school begins for me next Monday. Anyhow, thanks for reading!**


	4. You Really didn't see this Coming?

**Disclaimer: Megaman/Rockman X is not in any way associated with myself.**

**Author's notes: Ah, the crazy and hectic freshman year of high school. Lots of hard work and labor, especially after you factor in band and choir, and the screw up that my school made putting them in the same class period. But I digress. I didn't expect updates to slow down this much, so I'm going to just write whenever I have free time.**

**Now, we last left Zero in a house with several bedrooms of varying familiar colors. What will he do with these rooms? Bring in the J-pop theme song!**

Chapter 4

"So does anyone want to answer the question?" Forte stood up by the classrooms white board which had a complex mathematical equation written across it. "Hmmm, who to pick who to pick." Forte looked around the numerous members of his class.

_It certainly was fun picking on Double yesterday,_ he thought, _but variety is the spice of life. Let's see who else I can screw with._ Of all the faces he could see however, the one that caught his eye, was the one he couldn't see. Namely, Vile's face, beneath his purple helmet. "Vile!" Forte cried out suddenly. I just noticed that your always wearing that helmet, even though your restricted from taking armor to school." Forte approached Vile's desk.

"What of it?" Vile replied coolly.

"I'm actually quite interested in what happens to be beneath that helmet of yours." Forte grinned mischievously. "Would you mind taking it off."

"Yes I mind!" Vile slammed his fists on his desk. Forte smiled, seeing as he had finally struck a nerve. Vile was now shivering in his seat, although weather out of fear or anger was uncertain.

"You do realize, that such a harsh tone against a teacher is meriting of discipline." Forte grinned, as Vile gulped.

In a half a second, Vile had jumped eight feet in the air, in an attempt to escape. Forte however, was quicker, as the two were now at an equivalent height above the other student's heads. Forte quickly grabbed Vile, placing the rebellious student in front of his legs, and launched him with a powerful kick, planting the poor reploid's head in the wall firmly, right next to the shattered window.

The students all watched as Vile vainly struggled to release his head from his new concrete prison, as Forte stuck his upper body out the window. "Now let's see what we have beneath the hood!" the demented teacher looked like a child in a candy store. A few seconds later. Vile was launched out of the wall by Forte's fist, still wearing his helmet. Forte pulled himself back in the classroom, his face green.

"Keep the, Ulp!" Forte covered his mouth, resisting the urge to puke. "Keep the helmet on."

As the bell to signal the end of the day rang, all of the boys of the class, save Zero gathered around Vile, wondering just what he had beneath that helmet. Forte went to powder his nose.

Zero took a look around. Iris hadn't been there today. Maybe she was sick? _Maybe I'll go down to the office and check._ Zero thought, as he walked down to Signas's office.

"Principle Signas?" Zero cracked the office door open when no one answered his knock.

"Come in." The principles deep voice echoed through the room as Zero opened the door. "Ah, Zero! Just the reploid I wanted to see."

Zero cocked an eyebrow "Really?"

Signas nodded. "Indeed, I need you to do something for me," Signas began, allowing no room for Zero to interject. "As you've no doubt noticed, Iris is absent, as well as her brother Colonel. As is school protocol, I need to send someone to check on them and give them their home work," Zero thought for a moment. _We get homework?_ "As well as make sure they know that they both have one unexcused absence on their record right now. I'd do it myself but I just have so much to do, I have a paper that needs to be filled out and filed, a dinner date that I just can't miss, and,"

"In other words," Zero managed to pull in a word. "You can't be bothered." Signas looked to be pouting. Zero had after all, hit the nail right on the head.

The large reploid put his hands together and in his best Oliver Twist voice pleaded. "Please Zero." Before Signas could put in another word, one thing flashed through Zero's mind. _WANKER!_

Zero shivered. "Fine, I'll do it, just give me the home work."

Signas looked confused "What homework?" This would be the last thing Signas would say, before waking up the next morning with a large bump on his head.

Meanwhile, about five blocks away, a very annoyed Colonel and Iris looked up at their former residence, a second story apartment which had been taken from them because of "budget cuts" in Repliforce.

Colonel decided to break the silence with some levity. "You know, I thought you'd at least be a sophomore before we got evicted."

Iris sighed. "We'd better start looking for a place to sleep for the night." As they picked up their luggage, a blonde figure in a school uniform ran up to the siblings. "Zero!" Iris's mood immediately lightened up as she saw the long haired reploid running towards her.

The first thing Zero noticed was that Iris and Colonel were holding suitcases and other bags that were no doubt filled to the brim. "What's going on?" Zero was clearly confused. "Are you leaving?"

Colonel frowned. "We will if we can't find a place to stay. This morning the landlord came and gave us the rest of the day to clean up the apartment and pack our belongings. Seems that with all the budget cuts, Repliforce can't afford to house us anymore. The rate things are going, we may have to just leave."

The next thing Zero said would either be the best thing he ever did, or the worst mistake of his life. "Why don't you come to my place?" he offered. "I've got some extra room at my place, so maybe you guys could give me some company."

Colonel's eyes went wide. "You really mean that? We wouldn't want to impose or anything and-"

Iris stepped on Colonel's toe. "We'd love to come and stay." Iris accepted the offer as Colonel hopped on one foot whilst holding the other.

"I thought you couldn't hurt things." Colonel said through clenched teeth. Iris ignored the remark and followed Zero.

"Are you really sure this is a good idea?" Colonel whispered to Iris as they trailed behind Zero. "Our apartment was hardly big enough for me, let alone the both of us, and now you want to go add a third person into the mix?"

"We don't have much of a choice." Iris sighed. "We'd be homeless for the night if we didn't come."

"Even so, do you really think that he'll have an apartment that would be big enough for all of us? It's not like he has a house"

"Okay guys this is it." Zero called back to the two siblings. The duo looked up from their conversation to see Zero's large two story house.

"You were saying?" Iris looked to her brother.

Colonel's jaw simply dropped.

**Post Author's notes: Sorry for the long time it took for the release this chapter. I actually started it before school began and began working on it again two weeks into school. You can thank my buddy Gamer Geek for trolling me and making sure it even got put up in the first place. I'll try to keep writing in my free time and keep updates a little more frequent than never.**


End file.
